Will cars soon have a small red, orange or green indicator with a key symbol to evaluate their degree of repair, such as washing machine, smartphones or televisions? This is the complete issue of consultations released this spring by post-sales professionals, particularly through its branch within the Mobila Union, to develop said index adapted to the car.
These works also echo an article in the bill on the ecology of fleets, presented in February at the National Assembly, which planned to establish said index for electric cars. That professionals must worry all kinds of motor, specify mobile phones.
“It is an informative problem, but also of sovereignty and justice for consumers, which must be able to compare the repair of vehicles,” summarizes Alain Nay autinfos, director of APV and circular economy in mobile.
Best battery repair, access data
The precise criteria that will compose this new index are not yet known, but, for example, the ability to repair the battery by changing only defective cells, and not all the package anymore, it should necessarily provide a more positive note to the vehicle. Today there is no European obligation to have reparable batteries, but a battery represents approximately one third of the average cost of an electric car, or several thousand euros in terms of repair costs.
Other examples that could be used to define the note of each car: the ability to access vehicle data to establish a diagnosis, the availability of spare parts or the ability to repair outside the manufacturer’s workshop, specifies autoinfos.
Increase in the cost of repairs
This approach is part of a context of development of new technologies (the electric car, driving aids, an increasingly important place in software) that consumers do not always know well, while the price of cars has exploded. Last year, according to AAA data, the average price of a new car increased more 3%, to 36,712 euros on average, even exceeding 43,000 euros for electric cars.
Faced with these new technologies, repair costs have also increased: the repair of a hybrid car costs an average of 15.7% more than in a thermal, according to figures from the Association of Safety and Automobile Repair (MSR). The latter pointed out that in four years, repair prices (after a disaster) jumped 25.7%, all combined engines. By changing payment, consumers are necessarily more attentive.
A specific date for the concrete implementation of this new index has not yet been communicated, but the idea is to “go fast”, we are told in mobiles. Next year I could see a first test phase.
Source: BFM TV
